Pages

A-Z Daily Throwback Review: Undead (2003)

Zombie films
have become so commonplace that it seems silly to expect anything remotely
original anymore. The Spierig Brothers seemed to think that this was a problem,
because with Undead they went out of there way to throw as many unexpected
twists at the audience as possible. Despite the horrible acting, extreme gore,
and silly twists, or perhaps because of these things, Undead is a wild and
entertaining film. It just goes to show that not all films need to be great in
order to be fun to watch.

Undead begins
by introducing us to a small fishing town in Australia, which may as well be
dead. Nothing exciting is happening and because of this it comes as a giant
shock when a meteor shower rains down on many unsuspecting victims. The space
rocks tear through flesh un-forgivingly, but surprisingly the victims don’t
remain dead. The meteors somehow engage a zombie activity, which sends the town
into a panic. Five survivors find themselves trapped in a farmhouse, but
luckily they have an assortment of creative weapons to fend the zombies off.

What makes
Undead interesting beyond the strange involvement of aliens in the plot, the
extreme and comical gore, and the awful deadpan acting, is the direction the
film goes in. Most all zombie films classify it as an outbreak of some sort,
and yet they never look to find a cure. Instead we know that as soon as they
turn it is time to put a bullet in their brain. Undead goes in many strange
directions, but the most logical is the fact that a cure becomes part of the
storyline.